Magnitude 5.7 Quake Hits NW Iran, No Causalities Reported
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An earthquake measuring 5.7 on the Richter scale jolted an area in Iran’s northwestern province of West Azerbaijan on Sunday morning but there are no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
According to the Seismological Center of the Institute of Geophysics of Tehran University, the temblor struck an area near the city of Qotur in West Azerbaijan at 9:22 a.m. (local time) on Sunday.
The epicenter, with a depth of 6 km, was determined to be at 38.52 degrees of north latitude and 44.59 degrees of east longitude.
Iran is one of the most seismically active countries in the world, being crossed by several major fault lines that cover at least 90% of the country. As a result, earthquakes in Iran occur often and are destructive.
On November 12, 2017, the western province of Kermanshah was hit by a major 7.3-magnitude quake that killed 620 people.
The deadliest quake in Iran's modern history happened in June 1990. It destroyed the northern cities of Rudbar, Manjil, and Lushan, along with hundreds of villages, killing an estimated 37,000 people.
Bam in the country’s southeastern province of Kerman witnessed a strong quake in December 2003 which killed 31,000 people.